Tonsillectomy

I had another first today--surgery. I decided it was time to play patient after being a nurse for 2 years. Personally, I like the nurse side of things better. After years and years of sore throats, snoring, and strep throats I decided my tonsils were coming out. And my deductible had already been used up this year. So days after getting home from Africa I went under the knife. Yeah for another two weeks off work. To tell you the truth I would rather have been at work.

I checked in, got my blood draw, and sat in a hospital gown for about an hour waiting to head out. My mom was great and watched ER with my while we waited. I was nervous, I have never done anything like this before. The poor lady who started my IV wasn't very good at it. I have two large bruises from it. I was really tempted to walk over to the ER and have the techs start one on me, since I knew which ones were working. Well after loading me up with all sorts of various drugs the anesthesiologist came in and gave me a drug that i don't remember the name of. Then again about 2 minutes after he gave it to me I don't remember much of anything. I was kinda disappointed I wanted to see more of the OR, the set up, and procedure. Oh well. The next I remember was opening my eyes a hours later with a swollen tongue and spitting up blood. I still felt really really out of it. Kinda one of those out of body experiences. My whole body felt heavy. I started with ice chips and that helped my throat right away. I haven't stopped since. Walking was an adventure let me tell you. I was a little shaky the whole time.

So right now I am at home chilling and making myself eat and drink. Its like having a constant case of strep throat, except this time I get to take Lortab 7.5mg every 4 hours. I'm living off yogurt, purred bananas, ice water, and creamies. So other than being drugged I sound like a man. I got mistaken for my brother on the phone this morning. I'm also bored and spending a lot of time on my computer and reading. So if anyone is looking for something to do I'm at my house in Highland. (Hint Hint)

So this is what I have discovered so far:

1. Chewing gum helps A LOT to keep my throat moist
2. Drinking cold water is my new favorite thing to do
3. I sound worse than a strangled frog
4. My throat has two new gapping holes in it.
5. Do not have ANYTHING citrus unless you want to be crying in pain for hours
6. NEVER miss your scheduled pain med time
7. I must watch and protect my creamies from the rest of my apparently starving siblings.
8. I have great friends who check up on me and who send me flowers
9. I love watching disney movies and psych while on Lortab
10. I'm taking WAY to many pills with everything going on right now.
11. The back of my throat looks pretty much like this:
12.